Shang Palace Peking Duck and Dim Sum Lunch

We tried the Shang Palace Peking duck at lunch recently. We also discovered that the Chinese restaurant at Shangri-la Hotel Singapore is a relaxing and peaceful way of spending time away from the current hot and hazy conditions outdoors.

Chinese Restaurant at Shangri-la Hotel

Shang Palace has seen some refurbishing work done some years ago. But it essentially remains the same as what it was a long time ago – a classic Chinese restaurant in a grand hotel. The hotel is only a short distance from Orchard Road. But because it is tucked away from the main Orchard Road, it is not a venue we usually think of when deciding where to eat at Orchard Road.

On this occasion, we realised that it has been a while since we had lunch at the Shang Palace. And so we made our way there. The Shangri-la Hotel lobby still looks huge and grand. The aircon was very effective so it was nice to step indoors from the high temperature and elevated PM2.5 environment outside. The restaurant was tranquil at lunch on a weekday. In addition to ourselves, only a few small tables were occupied. This is a good place for a slow quiet lunch. You can view more pictures of the restaurant on our post of a previous visit.

Shang Palace Menu

A full set of food and drinks menu is available on the restaurant website. Here are some screenshots of some sample sections of the extensive menu so our readers can have a feel of the type of food to expect.

Dim Sum Menu of Shang Palace

Our Lunch : Amuse Bouche and Dim Sum

A delicate amuse bouche was served at the start of the meal. On top of the cup was a small abalone which was tiny but tasty. Taking off the top of the lid, we found a few pieces of pickles.

Since we were going to try the Peking duck, we held back from ordering too many other dishes. So we only had two types of dim sum. The standard serving size (and the menu pricing) of the dim sum was three pieces of each item. But they can adjust the number as requested. We decided to have two pieces.

The thousand-layer radish puff (picture above, $4 per piece) was an unusual dim sum item. A soft and crumbly skin enclosed a core of well cooked radish. What looked like a heavy oily dish was actually quite light and easy to handle. The baked barbecued Ibérico pork pastry (picture below) is a more commonly seen dim sum item. This was also good but not as interesting as the other one.

Shang Palace Peking Duck

The roasted Peking duck can be ordered as a half or whole bird ($78 and $108) respectively. There are economies of scale to be enjoyed when dining at Chinese restaurants. Since there were only two of us, we only had a half duck. The duck was presented to us before the knife work began. I must say that a half duck is not a pretty sight. It was not a good first impression of our duck. Thankfully, its beauty was more than skin deep.

The duck was cut up in the usual way and served to us with the usual condiments. The remaining parts of the duck were sent back to the kitchen for the second preparation.

The Shang Palace Peking duck method was to slice up pieces of skin as well as a thin slice of meat. We like this idea as this combination provided more meat to be wrapped with the pancakes (some places only slice off the skin to be used in the wrapping). The duck turned out to be very good – a very crisp skin and a well-cooked meat. And also no gamey flavour at all.

The Second Preparation

Since only a small part of the duck is used for the pancakes, the rest of the meat can be prepared and served in another way. Some restaurants will have a charge for this service. At Shang Palace, the menu price included the cost of this second preparation. We chose to have it served in the form of fried rice. We were pleased with our choice. The fried rice was expertly executed – very dry with a bit of wok hei. There must have been quite a bit of meat left and the resulting plate of fried rice was quite large. Part of it had to be packed to be finished off at home in a later part of the day. Needless to say, there was no space for dessert to round up the meal.

Ratings:
Food: 3.5
Service: 4
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 5
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

Shang Palace Chinese Restaurant
Shangri-la Hotel Tower Wing, Lobby Level, 22 Orange Grove Road
Singapore

Tel: +65 6213 4398

Operating Hours: 

Lunch
Monday to Friday
12pm to 3:00pm (Last order at 2:30pm)

Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays
First Seating: 11am to 12:30pm
Second Seating: 1pm to 3pm 

Dinner
Monday to Sunday
6pm to 10pm (Last order at 9:30pm)

Website